Welcome to this week's newsletter

The South Korean government has declared the nation's worst foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak as over. It is estimated the disease has cost the country US$3.42 billion.

The government announced a new measure to tighten its oversight of the livestock industry, requiring farmers to apply for permits to operate cattle and pig farms starting next year.

However, the situation is not yet under control in North Korea, where it is estimated that around a million dollars of equipment and vaccines are urgently required to help stem outbreak of the deadly FMD.

A joint FAO and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) mission travelled to the country in early March. The visit concluded that North Korea's capacity and that of it's veterinary services to detect and contain FMD outbreaks need significant strengthening.

Meanwhile, cases of FMD have also been reported in Botswana, Bulgaria, China, Israel, Myanmar, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan.

Cattle testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB) in the UK are to be DNA tagged to further strengthen controls preventing spread of the disease.

Evidence is emerging that some cattle farmers in the South West and Midlands may have been illegally swapping cattle ear tags. That means they may have been retaining TB-positive animals in their herds and sending less productive animals to slaughter in their place.

Retaining cattle that test positive for TB on a farm increases the risk of spread of TB to other herds and wildlife.

To strengthen deterrents, from mid-April cattle testing positive for TB will immediately be tagged and a sample of its DNA retained by Animal Health. These samples will then be cross-checked at random, or where fraud is suspected, against the DNA of animals sent to slaughter.

Protecting UK Livestock From The Threat Of Viral Disease
The successes in disease control and future challenges were discussed at a meeting organised by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Institute for Animal Health (IAH) in London on 17 March, writes Jackie Linden, Senior Editor of TheCattleSite.
Grasses For The Future
Dr Michael Casler, United States Department of Agriculture?s Agriculture Research Service, summarises the main points from the international conference ?Perennial ryegrasses: current and future genetic potential?, which took place last October, at Teagasc, Ireland.
RobustMilk: Improving Dairy Cow Robustness
RobustMilk is a project that has been funded through the EU Framework 7 Programme to join together six world-leading research organisations within EU that are actively working in dairy cattle breeding and have strong links with the dairy industry. It is called Innovative and Practical Breeding Tools for Improved Dairy Products from More Robust Dairy Cattle abbreviated to RobustMilk for ease of use (and speed!), explained Roel Veerkamp, at the British Cattle Breeders Conference 2011.